Stacking device for printing and the like machines



May 6, 1958 w. KOCH V 2,833,540

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STACKING DEVICE FOR PRINTING AND THE LIKE MACHINES Filed July 1, 1-954 4Sheets-Sheet 3 W. KOCH May 6, 1958 I STACKING DEVICE FOR PRINTING ANDTHE LIKE MACHINES Filed July 1, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 m M; nfl. i m/ n mH M M;

rates STACKING DEVICE FOR PRINTING AND THE LIKE MACHINES Werner Koch,Offenbach am Main, Germany, assignor to Falter & SchleicherAlrtiengesellschaft, Offenbach am Main, Germany, a German body corporateThis invention relates to stacking devices for use in printing machinesand the like, such as are working on sheets, and it more particularlyrelates to the pile tables and to the means for moving these tables inconformity with the moving or the delivery of the sheets into and out ofthe machine. Its main object is to provide improved means for moving thepile tables and for exchanging them at the requisite times, that is whenthe pile thereon has been exhausted in a sheet feeding device, orwhen'it has become so large, in the case of a stacking device, that ithas to be exchanged for that reason.

In printing machines of the said kind it is common practice to useoverhanging carriers or gihs from which the pile tables are suspendedand in which they are raised and lowered in working progression by meansof special hoisting devices. In machines which are working on smallsheets no difliculty is, as a rule, encountered in raising, lowering,and exchanging the tables. These small tables are simply supported onwooden slats or bars, and when they are to be exchanged, the slats orbars are easily removed so that the table can be wheeled away and a newone wheeled in.

In the machines for working on large sheets, this procedure cannot beadopted. The tables, when loaded, are too heavy and it is not possibleto support such heavy tables from a gib on two bars or slats along theirsides as in the case of the smaller machines. With the larger machines,therefore, one has to proceed in a diiferent way as for instance bymaking the tables relatively light and prevent their bending bystrengthening beams which, however, are difiicult to remove when thepile table is to be wheeled away from underneath the overhanging gibarm.

With these known structures the following disadvantage also makes itselfseriously felt: For hoisting purposes chains or cables are almostgenerally used, which are attached to the four corners of the table andwhich carry the aforesaid beams either directly or by means ofconnecting rails or the like. When the pile table is to be exchanged,either the cables or the connecting rails, or both, must be removed tobe out of the way of the pile table. This is exceedingly troublesome andtime consuming, and it prolongs the idling times of the machine veryconsiderably.

It is, therefore, another object of the invention to provide means forsupporting and carrying also very heavy pile tables without encounteringany of the aforesaid disadvantages. The invention, in this respect,provides for a frame which consists of a plurality of separate memberswhich are so joinedto one another as to present a closed frame when thedevice is at work. Two of the said members are rigid, while the othertwo are turnable about hinges at the corners of the said frame and inthe plane of the latter so that they can be opened out of the way of thein or outgoing pile table.

A further object of the invention rests in the provision of a frame ofthe said kind in which the turnable members of the frame are pivotallyconnected to the rigid members of the same. In this manner, when the wayis 2,833,540 Patented May 6, 1&58

to be cleared for the pile table to move in or out, these movablemembers need only be swung open or closed in a plane approximatelyparallel to the pile table. When returned to their working position theyare joined up again with their neighbouring members or locked in theirclosed position by any means such as screws, eccentrix, wedges or thelike.

In connection with a still further object of the invention theindividual members of the frame or, at least, two opposing members aremade interchangeable with each other. This affords full freedom inrendering those members turnable which, in accordance with therespective accommodation of the machine would be best suited for theexchange of the pile table.

In the foregoing example the invention has been referred to as beingparticularly applicable to the heavy pile tables of large sheet printingmachines. Yet it frequently happens that small sheets have to be printedon machines which have been built for printing on large sheets, and itis, therefore, a still further object of the invention to enable alsosmall pile tables to be used in the large supporting frames. For thispurpose and in order to provide a safe support also for small tables,one or two auxiliary members are movably arranged in the aforesaidframe, through which the weight of the pile and the table will betransmitted to the members of the frame. The auxiliary members may bepositioned parallel or at right angles to the direction of sheet feedingas required. They are preferably detachably connected to one'of therigid members with one of their ends, while with their other end theyare placed loosely onto the opposite movable member in such a manner,that in the lowest position of the frame the loosely applied end of theauxiliary member or members becomes raised to a position slightly abovethe same. This can be done in a convenient manner by providing adownwardly extending bolt to the loose end of the auxiliary stay, whichis slightly longer than the distance from the floor to the underside ofthe frame, when the latter is in its lowest position. In this way theauxiliary member stops slightly above the frame and the small clearancewhich thereby is formed between the said end of the member and the upperedge of the frame enable the latter to be opened and moved out of theway of the pile table, which can thus be moved out easily and exchangedagainst another one.

The accompanying drawings diagrammatically illustrate two embodiments ofthe invention by way of example. In these drawings:

Fig. 1 represents a part-sectional side elevation of the new feedingdevice for large pile tables.

Fig. 2 shows a feeding device of the kind illustrated in Fig. 1 for thestacking device of a printing machine in plan view.

Fig. 3 illustrates a part of Fig. 2 on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 4 represents in plan View a feeding device similar to Fig. 2 butarranged with an auxiliary member for the reception of small piletables.

Fig. 5 is a section on line AB of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 shows the way of fixing one end of an auxiliary member to a rigidframe member on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 7 illustrates the cooperation of the free end of the auxiliarymember with the supporting frame.

In Fig. l are shown the walls 1 of a stacking device -for a sheetprinting machine in the overhanging gib of which the shafts 2 and 3 arejournaled on which sprockets 4 and 5 are provided to be rotated by astack hoisting device of any convenient kind and which, not forming partof the invention, is not shown in the drawing. Over the said sprocketsthe chains 6 and 7 are moved up or down as required. These chains servefor the feeding of the pile 8 of sheets onto or from the pile table 9.S0

3. far, the arrangement just described is well known in the art. Thetransmission of the weight of the pile and of the pile table onto thechains 6 and 7 now is effected in accordance with the invention by meansofa frame which is composed as follows: i

The brackets 10 and 11 at the rearward corners of the substantiallyrectangular frame are bolted fast to the two ends of the rear member 12of the frame and are guided by means of slide members 13 on verticalrails 14 which are fixed to the side walls 1 of the hoisting gib.Pivoted to the brackets 10 and 11 are the hinge plates 15 and in so asto be turnable in a horizontal plane. The front brackets 17 and 18 areprovided with two pivots each, to which the hinge plates19, 20 and21, 22respectively are ioined .so as to be turnable in the same manner as thehinge plates 15 and 16 justreferred to. The pivots 23, 24 and 25, 26 aredownwardly extended so that they can serve as feet by which the framecan stand on the floor as shown in Fig. 1. The brackets 10 and 17 alsoare rigidly connected to one another as by means of the side member 27of the frame. Contrasting herewith, the mutual connection between thebrackets 17' and 18 as well as between the brackets 18 and 11 by thepartial frame members 28, 29 and 30, 31 respectively is such as to beeasily detachable.

In the present example it is assumed that the pile table is to beremoved sideways out of'the machine. In this case, as shown by theposition of the frame in Fig. l where the latter rests with feet 24, onthe floor, the two frame members 30 and 31 must be opened out abouttheir hinges 26 and 23, as indicated by the position of the part 31 inthe dotted lines 31 in Fig. 2. This opening of the members, 30, 31 freesthe wayfor a pile table to be wheeled out and an empty table to be movedin. Thereupon the two part-members 30 and 31 are returned into theirclose positions as shown in full lines in Fig. 2, in which they may beinterlocked with one another as by means of the bolts 32 and 33. Springpins 34, 35 which are positioned in bores at the end of the members 30and 31 may be used to lock the bolts 32. and 33 in position.

'In the example under consideration, in which the pile table is removedsideways out of the feeding device, there would be no necessity to openalso the frame members 28, 29 when the pile table is to be exchanged.Consequently, no bolts such as 32, 33 need be provided and the parts maybe screwed up fast to one another. However, should there be a change inthe working conditions of the machine which would call for removing thepile table from the front of the stacking device, the fast screws36, 37need only be exchanged against the removable bolts 32 and 33.

The arrangement, further, is such that the frame structure, asconsisting of the parts 30 to 35, can be exchanged against the one-piecemember 27. This enables the machine to be installed in any position andthe frame subsequently suited to whatever side the pile table is to bemoved.

Preferably the frame is so constructed that the upper edges of itsmembers are positioned all in a common plane. When both the pile tableand the frame are in their lowermost positions with their feet restingon the floor, then the upper edge of the frame lies a small distancebelow the underside of the table because of its feet 24, 25 beingshorter than the feet 38 of the pile table. The hoisting chains 6, 7,which are arranged in pairs, are fastened to the corners of the frame insockets 39, 40 and ii, 42 respectively.

Sometimes, in printing works, it happens that small sheets must beprinted on machines which are normally used for large sheets. In suchcases the large pile table, such as 9 in Fig. I, would be too heavy andthe invention, therefore, provides the modified form of the frame whichis shown in Figs. 4 to 7, which allows of employing also small piletables on a large size frame without difiiculty.

As particularly shown in Fig. 4 an auxiliary rail 43 is arranged to spanthe frame between the members 27 and 30,. 31 respectively intermediateits front and rear members. The left hand end of the member 43 in Fig. 4is U-shaped at 44 so that it can be shifted along the rigid member andclamped thereto as by means of the screws 45. i

The other end of the auxiliary member 43 is of angular formation andrests with an arm 46 on the members 30 e and 3-1 when the frame issuspended above the floor. However, when the frame assumes its lowestposition, the free end of the auxiliary member rests with a bolt 48 onthe floor, whereby the arm 46 is lifted slightly off the frame members30, 31 leaving a clearance 49 between itself and the upper surface ofthese members. This enables the members 30, 31 to be opened out and thepile table to be removed in the same way as in the example illustratedin Figs. 1 and 2.

What I claim is:

1. In a stacking device for sheet printing and the like machines havinga hoisting structure, a pile table, a pile table supporting frame andrope means for raising and lowering said frame and pile table in thesaid hoisting structure, a rigid member in the said frame adjacent thesaid hoisting structure, a second rigid member in the said frame atright angles to said first rigid member, a hinged member opposite saidfirst rigid member capable of being turned horizontally outward, asecond hinged member opposite said second rigid member also'capable ofbeing turned horizontally outward, and means for connecting said ropemeans to the said frame outside the corners thereof and sufficiently farapart to permit a clear passage of said pile table inside the said ropemeans after one of the said hinged members has been turned outwardly.

2. In a stacking device for sheet printing and the like machines havinga hoisting structure, a pile table, a frame for supporting said piletable and rope means for raising and lowering the same in said hoistingstructure, a rigid length member insaid frame adjacent the said hoistingstructure, a horizontally turnable length member opposite the said rigidlength member, a rigid side member connecting said length members at oneside of the frame, a horizontally turnable side member connecting saidlength members at the other side of the frame, an auxiliary lengthmember connecting the said side members intermediate the said lengthmembers, and means for detachably fixing said auxiliary member to atleast one of said side members.

3. In a stacking device for sheet printing and the like machines havinga hoisting structure, a pile table, a frame for supporting said piletable and rope means for raising and lowering the same in said hoistingstructure, a rigid length member in said frame adjacent the saidhoisting structure, a horizontally turnable length member opposite thesaid rigid length member, a rigid side member conmeeting said lengthmembers at one side of the frame, a horizontally turnable side memberconnecting said length members at the other side of the frame, anauxiliary length member connecting the said side members intermediatethe said length members, means at one end of said auxiliary lengthmember for detachably securing it to one of the said side members, and astay bolt at the other end of said auxiliary member of a length slightlygreater than the distance of the lower edge of the pile table supportingframe from the ground when the latter is in its lowest position.

4. In a stacking device for sheet printing machines having a pile tablesupporting frame as set forth in claim 1, each of the said turnableframe members consisting of two overlapping wings swingable in mutuallyopposite directions and having means for interconnecting the said wingswhen in their closed position.

5. In a stacking device for sheet printing machines having a pile table,a frame for supporting said pile table,

and a hoisting device for raising and lowering the said frame and piletable, said supporting frame comprising a rigid length member and arigid side member fixed to each other at approximately right angles, ahinged length member and a hinged side member opposite and attached tothe said fixed members and disposed, at approximately right angles toeach other, said hinged length and side members each consisting of twowings capable of being opened out in a horizontal plane, a bracket ateach corner of the said frame extending outwardly therefrom, hingescarried by the said brackets to which said hinged memhas are pivotallyattached, and means for keeping the said wings closed when the saidframe is in use.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS820,804 Lucy May 15, 1906 1,057,601 White Apr. 1, 1913 1,146,469Williamson July 13, 1915 1,744,608 Belluche Jan. 21, 1930 1,942,172Johnson Jan. 2, 1934 1,953,049 Horton et a1 Mar. 27, 1934

